These tips are the result of a week’s hard labour and dying a lot on a toon that was pretty well built at 105 but had to learn some hard lessons. Hopefully some of them will help you when you’re wiping harder than a mummy on a toddler with mumps. Be prepared for a real step up in challenge. The only comparable difficulty I can remember was Shadows of Angmar when level cap was 50.

Light of Eärendil
This is the new radiance, for those who remember it. Areas have an inbuilt “shadow” level that debuffs you. Look for a purple “hand” in your debuff area, and a white/purple bar under your power bar. Debuffs above level 1 have a massive effect on the damage you take and the damage you give out. Level 1 and 2 debuffs can be countered somewhat with hope, tomes of defence and attack damage, but if you have level 3 or over, run away.

Gear provides light. Get yourself a Flame of Ancalamir from the High-Enchanter in the Udûn Foothold and keep, and equip, any gear with a +4 or greater light modifier. Gear with light has a chance to drop from human or animal mobs in instances - Stoneheight and Warg-Pens both do it, and probably Iorbar’s Peak and Great Goblin will as well. Once you have new gear, don’t forget to deconstruct your old one. A large enough pile of Ashes of Gorgoroth gives you access to some seriously nice gear, and you can deconstruct the stuff you replace - as long as it has light.

You should aim for 100 light. You don't currently need any more, but I suspect you will when instances launch.

The level gap
Since penalties for being under-level when fighting mobs were increased, starting Mordor at 105 is not for the faint-hearted. Starting it at 102 is for the truly nuts. The modifiers from over-levelled mobs plus shadow 1 will be deadly. If you enter Mordor at 106 or 107 you will have a much easier time. Do some Anorien quests, West Gondor warbands, Minas Tirith tidying up, skirms or whatever else to get you to 106, and then walk into Mordor.

Pimp Your Weapons
Use all the starlits, IXP and emps you can. Maximum tier for an imbued leg is now 69. Stat legacies are broken and don’t make a meaningful contribution any more, so replace them if you can.

Set Bonuses
Mordor gear doesn’t have them. If you have a killer bonus (e.g. heartseeker reset or 20% revealing mark heal), keep those items but fill them with your best 105 essences as all your other stuff will need to go.

Pulling
Remember the new rule – 1 signature/2 normal mobs should be doable, 2/3 is hard, and anything over that requires real thought. Think hard about pulls and positioning especially if you’re a light or medium. Check your scope for what's nearby if you want to kite.

Defences and Penetration (ooer)
Ensure you have mits, crit def, incoming healing and importantly finesse. If you don’t die you can complete quests. Keep an eye on the numbers – they will dramatically change as you rise in level – as shown below. Aed is now level 115. He has 50k finesse which equates to a -12.5% reduction in BPE. He has 46k crit which is near, but not at, the 25% cap. His mits are about 35k which equate to base 37%, remembering that 50% is cap for mediums. He now has max Survival Gear traited, even in blue line, for another +8% to mits… and the difference is massive. Also, Tripwire has saved his life more than once. All his gear is now Mordor except for the t2 heartseeker raid set.

Crafting
Open ALL the rusty chests you can. NB - if in a group and one person opens a chest, EVERYONE gets a Gorgoroth Crafting Bundle. Mordor crafting can be done by non-Mordor toons, so keep all resources and hand them out to your crafters. Recipes are bought with Mordor quest tokens and are unbound once bought. Crafted gear is about 90% as good as best in slot so definitely worth making.

QUEST NOTESThe Fushaum Resolution - remember for the fight at the end that you have a lot of room to manoeuvre and kite, not just the bridge. Kill Malatuk first.Thorzhaf - get an orc disguise from the little snaga Pargrub (your manager!) but remember it has a 5min timeout, it is destroyed on ANY damage, and orcs will notice you if you stand still. Keep on the lookout for orc armour lying around the place to refresh the buff. And, vitally, where you first get the armour IS NOT THORZHAF so you need to walk back, left and left to use it - do NOT walk forward or the ghash-hai will eat you.Borangos the Horror - you should hide to the left or right of the stairs in the little cranny. Once you have hidden and the quest text in your tracker changes, DO NOT MOVE or you will fail the whole instance.